So Who Won?
by An Oversized T-Shirt
Summary: "Already frightened eyes seemed to double in size as a thought dawned on him. It was unwelcome in every way. But, it's truth was deniable." My first, and probably last, songfic. WARNING: Heavily implied character death.


_Working randomly on a roleplay post, this came to me. I'm aware that it's very poorly written, and more than just a little confusing, but I *almost* got my idea across, so I'm okay with that. I'll probably wind up rewriting this one day, but that day is not today.  
__**WARNING**__**: Character Death is heavily implied, here. If that's not your cup of tea, I suggest you look elsewhere for your fanfiction fix.**_

_**Disclaimer**__**:  
I own neither Invader Zim nor the lyrics or the song 'Not Meant to Be'. Each is owned, respectively, by Viacom (screw you, Vasquez should own that D8) and the band Theory of a Dead Man. I make no claim on either of them. I make no money from writing this fanfiction.**_

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Zim held his head in his gloved hands. He had nothing to do. There was nothing he could do. He was so tired, now. Too tired to function properly. How long had it been since he'd had anything to eat? Since he had charged his PAK? A human day? A human month? A human season?

The Irken almost immediately turned away the first and last option he had presented himself with. He could not last a human season, or anywhere near a human season, in his current state. At most, he could hope to last half of that. And, if his Invader outfit, one that was designed to be skintight, being baggy on his green skin was anything to go on, he was probably nearing that deadline.

The Invader cried out in frustration. He needed to go down to the lower levels and try to get his base running again. He needed to go down and find a way to charge- no. He wouldn't think of that. Even with that unsaid, it still sent a pang of remorse and longing to his squeedly-spooch. Those horribly alien emotions just made the drive to go down to the labs and attempt to repair communications and functionality and every other thing that much stronger. And, worse, those feelings forced the realization that he was powerless to the forefront of his mind.

The Invader clinched gloved hands and screamed every obscenity he knew into his empty base.

Being faced with your own mortality was a bitch.

_It's never enough to say I'm sorry  
It's never enough to say I care _

Dib paced uneasily on Zim's stoop. He had no idea what was happening. He had no idea what could be waiting for him on the other side of that door. Some small part of the human didn't want to know what was beyond the now discrete brown door in front of him. Somehow, some small part of him knew what was on the other side of the door, knew why the 'invader' hadn't been at school for almost two months.

Why was he even here? He didn't need to be here! He didn't want to be here! He had no investment in the alien!

The human took a moment to absorb that last thought. It was a blatant lie. Dib had _everything _invested in this alien. Zim was his ticket to fame, to success, to _respect. _Oh Gods, how Dib wanted respect. How much he didn't want to be labeled as just another loony.

But, somehow, that wasn't why he was here. He was here partly for those reasons, yes, but there was something more. Somehow, there was something that compelled the human to arrive at this now more discrete, though still off the wall, house's stoop. But wha-

The human's thought process was interrupted by an inhuman shriek. There were words, behind it, bit they were mostly gibberish or unintelligible. It worried the human, on some level. Almost without consent from their owner, his boot and black clad legs moved him past the surprisingly unlocked door and into the alien's living room.

_But I'm caught between what you wanted from me  
And knowing that if I give that to you _

Zim slammed his hands against the purple couch he was sitting on a few times and yelled out a few more obscenities before he realized that someone else was in the room with him.

_I might just disappear_

"DIB-STINK!" the 'invader' screeched. The alien managed, with a good deal of force, to push himself away from the couch he had spent the past God knew how many hours or even days sulking on.

_Nobody wins when everyone's losing_

The first thing Dib noticed was the darkness. There was a lot of it; not a single artificial light in sight. It was as if someone had come and flipped a switch. The human couldn't make out the Irken yet, but his night vision was improving rapidly; he already saw enough to feel vaguely concerned. "Zim?" the human half squeaked. He braved a few steps toward the almost fragile little green being; he kept his posture as nonthreatening as he could being a good foot taller than the being who was _supposed _to be his nemesis.

_It's like one step forward and two steps back  
No matter what I do you're always mad _

"Keep away from **Zim** you **pathetic **excuse for **flesh!**" the Irken shrieked, quickly taking twice as many steps as the human had taken towards him in the opposite direction. It made Zim furious to think that the human had the gull to break into his base and actually seem _concerned!_

_And I, I can't change your mind  
I know it's like trying to turn around on one way street_

"But Zim I'm-" the human attempted to say before being swiftly cut off by the Irken.

"_**Zim **_does _not _**care!**" This was a trick, somehow. It had to be! It always was, since Dib had been little more than a human smeet, every single iota of care or concern he had displayed toward the Irken was a facade! That would not stop now, especially not when the target was weak. Zim was not about to be fooled by the humans mock-concern!

_I can't give you what you want  
And it's killing me_

Dib's night vision father progressed and his concern turned into horror. Zim was emaciated, whatever skull Irkens had was sharply visible under the skin. His shirt clung loosely to his body, something Dib had not even known to be possible; the outfit had always fit the alien so snugly that the human had assumed it to be made of something that knew exactly what shape to take.

_And I, I'm starting to see  
Maybe we're not meant to be_

"Stop gawking_, insufferable_ worm-baby!" Zim half hissed. Suddenly, he was very self conscious. The Invader didn't want the human here; he shouldn't have been here! He shouldn't be seen like this! He should have been remembered for his all of his glorious plans, not for... this.

_It's never enough to say I love you  
No, it's never enough to say I try _

But he wouldn't be! No matter what he did now, he would be remembered for _this._ As a defect! As someone the tallest had cut off from all of their resources. "Leave Zim to die in _peace! _Does he not at _least_ deserve that? Yes, the armada... Irk! Just _leave him alone!_" The alien was not about to attempt to ask the human for help. He had been forsaken by his Tallests, he would honor that. There was no twisting that as he had before. It was over. GIR's death had basically solidified that. He wouldn't try anymore. He couldn't try anymore.

_It's hard to believe _

Dib looked at the Irken with wide, horrified eyes. He... What? Already frightened eyes seemed to double in size as a thought dawned on him. It was unwelcome in every way. But, it's truth was deniable.

_That's theres no way out for you and me  
And it seems to be the story of our lives_

Without Zim, he had no reason to live. He had invested countless hours into exposing the alien. He had put all of his effort and time into revealing Zim to the rest of the world, to showing the public how blind and stupid they were. And, with Zim in this state, unable to communicate with his leaders or supply functioning alien technology, nothing would come of it. Sure, the public would gain the information that they were not alone in the universe, but that would just be controversy.

Such knowledge would just cause more problems than solutions; every religion on Earth would be called into question. Jobs would crawl to a halt. Cults would spring up like weeds. And for what? Some petty knowledge? The Irken's wanted nothing to do with Earth, they had made that much abundantly clear.

Dib knew that the government hated problems, and that they were the kings of cover-up. Even if they were supplied with an alien body, it would be for naught. It would be like such a thing never existed

_Nobody wins when everyone's losing _

The human made an agitated grunt as he yanked at his hair. He almost didn't care that his entire life's work was wasted. He almost just didn't care. He was done. Somehow, with that realization, nothing mattered except just... existing. Shock, some people would call the state Dib was in. His skin was paler than usual, and his heart was racing. It was over. His entire life. But he didn't care. _Nothing mattered_. That was the beauty of it.

The human took a few steps back and wound up connecting with a wall. He was shaking with laughter. Laughter that had no real purpose than to be laughter. He'd been driven off of the deep end by that realization. That realization that was too true to deny. Too true to disbelieve too-

_It's like one step forward and two steps back  
No matter what I do you're always mad _

The human's thought process was interrupted by a sharp pain in both of his shoulders. Zim was pinning him to the wall, now. The last of his strength being squandered on something innately pointless.

_And I, I can't change your mind  
I know it's like trying to turn around on a one way street_

The alien hissed as the human he was pinning down just laughed harder. Nothing was even that funny! The Irken had no idea the realization that had just dawned on the human, nor the implications it would have on him. It didn't matter, he was aggravated. Beyond his limit. He was done. He really was.

_I can't give you what you want  
And it's killing me _

The alien let out a pained sound when Dib just kept laughing. The green male couldn't even come up with anything to say in his current situation. What could he say? 'Stop it, filthy human!'? What good would that do? Nothing. It would just make the human laugh harder. Never mind the fact that the human actually would have calmed down; he was already starting to quiet down.

_And I, I'm starting to see  
Maybe we're not meant to be _

Zim snarled lightly at the human as he called out a weapon from his PAK. It was a small, purple ray-gun; the only thing he had managed to keep working through the cutoff from electricity. The Irken took the weapon from a spider arm quickly and help it against the side of the human's head.

Dib's laughing instantly stopped and the look in his eyes turned frantically from one of emptiness to one of horror. Zim didn't let off a delighted grin as he would have had he been in the right mind, he hadn't meant to scare the human. He just wanted him to shut up! That was all!

_There's still time to turn this around  
We could be building this up instead of tearing it down _

Maybe, in another universe, on another time line or another plane of reality, Dib would have rolled and shifted their positions. Maybe then he would have leaned in and kissed the Irken. And maybe, in that particular universe the defect would have returned the kiss. Maybe the pair could have run back to Dib's home and found a way to recharge the Irken's PAK, to fix GIR.

_But I keep thinking  
Maybe it's too late _

But in this particular universe, in this particular time line and this plane of reality, Dib stayed pinned against the wall. He did not lean in to kiss the Irken, he reached into his pocket and retrieved a small water-gun. It was something he had carried around for the past two years. It was the only thing he knew could kill the Irken for certain and, if things ever got too dangerous with the alien, Dib knew he had that small safety net. The defect didn't return a kiss, here, he had the small, water toy shoved under one of the circular panels on his PAK. They were not running to Dib's to get his PAK charged. They were not fixing- It wasn't happening.

Zim readjusted his grip on the ray gun, nonverbally signaling his refusal to stand down. He was not going to submit. Irken Invaders did not, _could not_ submit to someone. Especially not someone as insignificant as the Dib-Worm.

Dib held the small water toy firmly in place as well. He wasn't standing down, either. This was it, apparently. Zim too proud and Dib too detached to stand down.

_It's like one step forward and two steps back  
No matter what I do you're always mad _

"Nice working with you, Zim." There was no joking in Dib's voice; it was mostly hollow. Zim wanted there to be joking in the alien's voice. He needed there to be joking. He needed for this to be a cruel joke, not the end.

_And I, can't change your mind  
I know it's like trying to turn around on a one way street _

But this was the end. They had to do this. They didn't fit in with anyone, and they couldn't coexist peacefully. Dib had thrown everything he had into foiling the alien and now it was over. Zim refused to coexist with the alien. Dib felt the same way about Zim, that much was obvious.

_I can't give you what you want  
And it's killing me_

Neither was going to submit and join the either. There was no happy ending, here, the human realized, with a good deal of horror, that his was about as cheery of an outcome as there could be. He was not going to extend Zim an olive branch of peace and they were not going to join forces to defeat the humans. That was a fairytale, an absurdity. This was reality. Reality was cruel.

_And I, I finally see  
Maybe we're not meant to be _

Both were to immersed in their rage and desperation to ever hope and notice that they _could_ live together peacefully. That they could coexist as friends and, maybe someday, something more.

_It's like one step forward and two steps back  
No matter what I do you're always mad _

So, this was it: the end.

The Irken readjusted his grip on the ray gun in his gloved hand without opening his eyes. He heard a small, shuddering sound from the human and felt something shift against the small opening his PAK; probably Dib's water gun.

_And I, baby I'm sorry to see _

Zim clinched his eyes shut more tightly. Their closing did not prevent several deep gray beads of liquid from slipping past them.

_Maybe we're not meant to be _

This was really it.

* * *

_This is my first songfic... You probably won't be seeing too many more of these from me. I'm pretty sure I suck at them. .3.;;  
This is also my first Invader Zim fanfiction? Well, rather, the first fanfiction I've written on my own. I roleplay all the time. Okay. Just disregard everything I said; it had no point._

_So... review, yeah?_


End file.
